Air shield and screen structure



Dec. 27, 1955 s. F. PASTURCZAK AIR SHIELD AND SCREEN STRUCTURE 2Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1954 INVENTOR. 3. F PASTUROZAK ATTORNEYS1955 s. F. PASTURCZAK AIR SHIELD AND SCREEN STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 24, 1954 FIG. 5

IN V EN TOR. 5'. E PASTURGZAK Arm/M575 2,728,411 Patented Dec. 27', 1955United States Patent Oflice i AIR SHIELD AND SCREEN STRUCTURE Stanley F.Pasturczak, East Moliue, Ill., a sslguor to Deere & Company, Mollne,Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application February 24, 1954, SerialNo. 412,210 4 Claims. (Cl. 183-67) 'zcore increases in direct proportionto the amount of dirt and other foreign matter in the air. In the caseof internal combustion enginesused on agricultural machinery,particularly those in the harvest fields, radiator clogging is a fairlyacute problem, since it results in overheating of the engine andrequires frequent stoppage of the engine so that the core or screen canbe manually cleaned. It is recognized, of course, that these problemscan be eliminated by relatively expensive filtering units but theoriginal cost and cost of maintenance of such units are pro hibitive..Accordingly, it is desirable to achieve a rela-' tively simple andeflicient cleaning system which, for the most part, has heretoforeeluded those working in the art.

According to the present invention, an improved shield and screenstructure is provided, operating on the simple principle of a pair ofparallel plate-like members, one of which is imperforate and the otherof which is perforated or in the form of a screen. These are arranged infront of the radiator, with the perforated plate means or screen nextadjacent to the radiator and with the imperforate plate ahead of thescreen. The imperforate plate is joined to opposite sides of the screenso that the only openings for air are at the top and bottom of theassembly. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the screen is inthe nature of a perforated plate so that apart from the edges of theperforations the plate is relatively smooth. Experience has shown thatthis structure is highly efficient in the cleaning of air and it isfound that leaves, fragments of stalk, chaff and other foreign matterentering the intake openings with the air do not adhere to the screenbut pass out of the structure in directions normal to the flow of airthrough the screen as created by the engine fan. This result is believedto follow from the restricted air intake at the top and bottom of theassembly and the rotation of the fan, which seem to combine to createturbulence to such extent as to cause the foreign particles to departfrom the air stream once they are between the plate members. It may bethat the rotation of the air stream set up by the fan tends to create acentrifugal cleaning effect. Since the screen is preferably in the formof a perforated plate in lieu of a mesh screen, the foreign particlesare free to slide or move across the perforated plate on their way outof the assembly. It is also likely that the control and forced flow ofair through the top and bottom of the assembly, which draws foreignmaterial with it, causes the foreign material to be separated from theair stream because the more fluid air more rapidly changes direction andthe foreign particles have a tendency to continue in their originaldirection and thus to depart from the assembly. Furthermore,the-swirling action set up by the fan tends to move theforeign'particles to the outer edges of the perforated screen at whichthe air pressures are not sufficiently high to draw the particlesagainst the screen, whereby the heavier particles drop by gravity. Theself-cleaning action is further be lieved to result from the increasedvelocity of air flow between the screen and the outside of the assemblyand accumulated air-borne particles are broken up by this increasedvelocity so as to separate and move to the outer extremities of thescreen and thus to depart from the assembly as stated above.

The foregoing and other important objects and features of the inventionwill become apparent, in combination, subcombination and element form,from a disclosure of a preferred embodiment of the invention in thefollowing description and accompanying sheets of drawings, thest'iiieral figures of which will be described immediately Fig. 1 is anover-all side elevational view of an internal combustion engine having aradiator equipped with the shield and screen structure.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the shield structure attached to theradiator.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly in section, as seen along the line 3-3 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view as seen along the line4-4 of Fig. 3. 1

Fig. 5 is asectional view on an enlargedscale, and with the intermediateportions thereof omitted to shorten the view, as seen along the line 5-5of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view, drawn to an and screen 35enlarged scale, of a portion of the perforated plate means.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the air cleaner intake deflector.

Although the improved screen and shield structure is shown inassociation with the radiator and fan of an internal combustion engine,it will be understood that the arrangement can be suitably adapted fordisposition in any air stream created by rotary means rotating on anaxis parallel to the air stream. Accordingly, the present disclosureshould be taken as illustrative and not limiting.

In Fig. 1, the numeral 10 designates a conventional internal combustionengine having an intake manifold 12 conventionally supplied with afuel-air mixture by means of a carburetor 14 connected to an air cleaner16. A conventional radiator 18 is positioned ahead of the engine 10 andhas upper and lower water tanks 20 and 22 and an intervening core 24.Aconventional rotary means In the form of an engine fan 26 is positionedbehind the radiator core 24 and operates in the usual manner to draw airthrough the core for cooling purposes.

The improved shield and screen structure is designated generally by thenumeral 28 and comprises an outer imperforate plate or plate means 30and an inner perforated plate or plate means or screen 32. These platesare arranged with the perforated plate 32 immediately ahead of theradiator 18 andwith the imperforate plate 30 imme-- diately ahead of theperforated plate or screen 32. The plate means 30 is in the form of aU-shaped structure as viewed in plan and has an imperforate'frontportion 34 and a pair of opposite legs or side portions 36. The planesof the plate 32 and of the front plate portion 34 are normal to the axisof rotation of the fan 26 and these plates are preferably of generallyrectangular structure 3 28 at opposite sides, leaving airv intakeopenings only at the top and bottom as designated by the numerals 38 and40. The plate 32 and the plate portion 34 are substantially congruent,except for that upper portion of the perforated plate 32 that extendsabove thetop edge of the plate 30, which is largely immaterial, sincethe upper portion just described has little if any efiect on theoperation, being out of the path of the air stream because it is abovethe top edge, of the core 24.

The perforated plate 32 has a peripheral flange 42 by means of which itis attached to the radiator 18 in any suitable manner not importanthere.

As indicated above, the perforated plate 32 is preferably formed ofsheet metal or equivalent material in which the perforations areprovided by a punching operation, resulting in a number ofrelativelysmall holes or orifices 44. These openings may range in sizefrom .025 to .075 inch in diameter, varying in number between 150 to 300per square inch. When'the perforated plate is formed by a punchingoperation as just described, the metal bordering each orifice will besomewhat distorted, leaving on the plate marginal extruded portions asindicated by the numeral 46 in Fig.6. When the plate 32 is installed inthe assembly, the projected or extruded portions 46 are arranged to therear, leaving the front surface of the plate as smooth as possible. Inother words, with the plate arranged as just described there are noprojections on the plate to interfere with the free flow of material,the smooth surface of the plate therefore contributing to theself-cleaning action of the structure.

In addition to the peripheral or marginal flange 42, the perforatedplate 32 is connected along its bottom edge to the radiator 18 by meansof a transverse imperforate wall 48. Consequently, the radiator core isexposed at its front to air only through the screen 32 and the airintake to the screen is only through the top and bottom intake openings38 and 40. It is apparent, however, that the structure could beconsidered to be rotated 90", which would place the intake openings atopposite sides, which is within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

For the purpose'of accomplishing a pre-cleaning action on the air takenin by the air cleaner 16, the air intake conduit of this cleaner,designated by the numeral 50, leads to the side of the structure 28,having a connection at 52 with an air intake opening 54 in one side ofthe structure just behind the perforated plate 32. An air intake dirtdeflector 56 is carried by the interior of the side wall to which theconnection 52 is made, this deflector being opened at its top and bottomrespectively at 58 and 60. Some of the air being drawn through theperforated plate 32 by the fan 26 will be taken in by the deflector at58 and any foreign particles in this air will continue through thedeflector 56 and drop out of the bottom opening 60, because of thevariations in velocity due to the peculiar shape of the deflector, whichis shown by itself in Fig. 7.

In operation, air'moves into the structure through the top and bottomintake openings 3,8 and 40, as represented generally by the full-linearrows 62 in Fig. 2. The rotating fan creates a swirling action asrepresented by the arrows on the dotted-line ellipse 64. As explainedabove, the particles of leaves, stalks, chaff, etc., being less fluidthan the air itself, do not change direction as rapidly as the morefluid air and those particles moving upwardly tend to continue to moveupwardly and those particles moving downwardly continue to movedownwardly, escaping in opposite directions through the air intakeopenings 38 and 40 as represented generally by the dotted line arrows 66in Fig. 2. Those foreign particles that do not immediately escape tendto rotate about the relatively smooth surface of the perforated plate 32and because of the rotary and centrifugal action set up by the fan arecaused to move toward the outer edge portions of the plate, at whichportions the tendency of the particles to adhere to the plate becomesless and less until the particles simply drop off the plate.

It is a feature of the invention that the structure may be provided as aunit attachment capable of being mounted on any conventional radiator,due consideration being given to sizes and other characteristics of theparticular type of radiator for which the unit design is intended.Consequently, the structure may be furnished as a combination of theplates 30 and 32, together with appropriate means for mounting the sameon the radiator. In the present instance, the side walls 36 are providedwith suitable apertures (not shown) for receiving a plurality of capscrews or other appropriate attaching means such as tions of theradiator,

designated by the numeral 68. Engines or power plants may, of course, beoriginally manufactured with the screen and shield structure 28 as partof the original equipment.

Various other features and objects of the invention, not specificallyenumerated herein, will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art, aswill numerous modifications and alterations in the preferred embodimentof the invention disclosed, all of which may be achieved withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a vehicle having an upright radiator and means operative to createan air stream moving toward and through the radiator, the improvementresiding in screen and shield structure for cleaning the air streambefore entrance thereof to the radiator, said structure comprising: anupright imperforate shield upstream of and spaced closely from andsubstantially parallel to the radiator and having a frontal areaapproximately the same as that of the radiator, said shield having apair of transversely spaced apart upright edges and a pair of verticallyspaced apart, substantially horizontal edges, the edges of one pairhaving respectively connected thereto in substantially air-tightrelation imperforate walls extending to the radiatonsaid walls beingspaced apart on the order of the edges to which they are respectivelyconnected and being in turn connected in substantially airtight relationrespectively to correspondingly spaced porsaid shield, beingsubstantially parallel to the radiator as aforesaid, lying thustransverse to the air stream and serving to intercept the air stream andto cause the stream to flow toward the radiator over and past only thoseshield edges other than the edges to which the walls are connected; andan upright screen element interspaced between and substantially parallelto both the radiator and the shield and having marginal edges connectedto the radiator in substantially air-tight I relation so that air flowover and past the aforesaid edges gains entrance to the radiator onlythrough the screen.

2. In a vehicle having an upright radiator and a cooling fan behind theradiator and rotatable on an axis perpendicular to the radiator tocreate an air stream moving towardand through the radiator, theimprovement residing in screen and shield structure for cleaning theair, stream ahead of the radiator, said structure comprising: an uprightimperforate shield spacedclosely ahead of and substantially parallel tothe radiator and having a frontal area approximately the same as that ofthe ra-j diator, said shield having a pair of transversely spaced apartupright edges and a pair of vertically spaced apart, substantiallyhorizontal edges, the edges of one pair having respectively connectedthereto in substantially airtight relation rearwardly directedimperforate walls, said walls being spaced apart on the order of theedges to which they are respectively connected and being in turnconnected in substantially air-tight relation respectively tocorrespondingly spaced portions of the radiator, said shield, beingsubstantially parallel to the radiator as aforesaid, lying thustransverse to the air stream ahead of the radiator and serving tointercept the air stream and to cause the stream to flow toward theradiator over and past only those shield edges other than theedges towhich the walls are connected; and an upright screen element interspacedbetween and substantially parallel to both the radiator and the shieldand having marginal edges connected to the radiator in substantiallyair-tight relation so that air flow over and past the aforesaid edgesgains entrance to the radiator only through the screen, said screenhaving a front face that is smooth except for the perforations and overwhich smooth face the air stream is caused to swirl in a rotary fashionbecause of the rotation of the cooling fan.

3. In a vehicle having an upright radiator and a cooling fan behind theradiator and rotatable on an axis perpendicular to the radiator tocreate an air stream moving toward and through the radiator, theimprovement residing in screen and shield structure for cleaning the airstream ahead of the radiator, said structure comprising: a shield ofU-shaped configuration in which the bight of the U presents animperforate frontal portion spaced closely ahead of the radiator and thelegs of the U respectively present imperforate walls extendingrearwardly from the frontal portion and joining the radiator insubstantially air-tight relation thereto, said frontal portion beinggenerally in fore-and-aft alinement with the radiator and the U-shapedconfiguration of the shield producing the eifect of a tunnel havingopposed open ends providing the only access of the air stream to theradiator; and an upright screen interspaced between and in generalforeand-aft alinement with the radiator and the frontal portion of theshield, said screen being peripherally joined to the radiator insubstantially air-tight relation so that air flow through the aforesaidtunnel gains entrance to the radiator only through the screen.

4. The invention defined in claim 3, in which: the frontal portion ofthe shield has an area approximately the same as that of the radiatorand said portion substantially throughout that area is uniformly spacedaheadof the radiator.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,339,240 Travis May 4, 1920 1,359,547 Thomas Nov. 23, 1920 1,799,144Balusek Apr. 7, 1931 2,152,115 Van Tongeren Mar. 28, 1939 2,319,894Vokes May 25, 1943 2,500,268 Adams Mar. 14, 1950 2,666,497 Weber Ian.19, 1954

